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A Dialogue Upon Dunkirk, Between a Whig and a Tory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2021

Bertrand A. Goldgar
Affiliation:
Lawrence University, Wisconsin
Ian Gadd
Affiliation:
Bath Spa University
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Summary

Whig.] Well, Mr. Tory, What do you think of the Expedition to Dunkirk? We were told, the Town was to be Delivered a Week ago, the Troops Embark’d, and the new Governor just ready to take Horse. What! Has Old Lewis outwitted you? I observe your Faction are damnably down in the Mouth: If it ben't a Secret, prithee tell us where it sticks.

Tory.] Where hast thou liv’d! Has no Body told you, that an Express came last Night from France, to let us know that the French are ready to Surrender Dunkirk at a Minute's Warning? and that General Hill is, for ought I know, some Miles on his Journey, in order to take Possession of it?

Whig.] Pshaw, Pox, this is a Bamboozle; I know you well enough: But confess ingenuously,What do you think will become of You and your Party, if, after all, this Promise of Dunkirk should prove a Bite? For, between Friends, Can you imagine, that the French King, who has laid out some Millions on that Town, would give it up in aWhim to You, who have not Command over your own Troops, and cannot procure him a Cessation of Arms? Come, come, our Friends the Dutch are better Politicians than you take them for, and, to my Knowledge, have offered better Terms to the French than you are able to give them; therefore I cannot imagine how you will get over this scurvy Business of Dunkirk, nor what Countenances you will put on when you find your selves disappointed.

Tory.] Look ye, I am very Serious: What I told you at first is true, and Mr. Hill, bar Accidents, will certainly be at Dunkirk in Forty-eight hours.

Whig.] And are you really so silly to believe, that because the French have invited you over to Dunkirk, that they will let you in when you come there? Have the French ever kept theirWord in any one thing this Fifty Years?

Tory.] Why the Devil shou’d we not take their Words as well as the Dutch do? You confess, and we know, they have lately made several Offers to France; and as for Breach of Faith, perhaps it is not so particular to that Kingdom: What do you think of publickly Acknowledging a Prince for Lawful Monarch, and then, for ten Years, allowing him only the Title of Duke?

Type
Chapter
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English Political Writings 1711–1714
'The Conduct of the Allies' and Other Works
, pp. 187 - 192
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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